Billionaire Takes Tate Works to Moscow

A stunning collection of 112 Turner oils and watercolors has been transported from Tate Britain to Moscow, paid for by billionaire Uzbek oligarch Alisher Usmanov.

Usmanov was in London yesterday to look at more, while in Moscow's Pushkin museum the lent Turners were being hung in preparation for an exhibition opening on November 17 which, it is hoped, will help improve the still frosty relations between the UK and Russia.

Martin Davidson, chief executive of the British Council, said: "This exhibition provides an opportunity not simply to see the outstanding art but also to use it as a means of developing a whole set of new understandings between the UK and Russia. Cultural relations for us are a vital way of supporting the bonds between two countries, never more so when there are other differences."

The exhibition is being paid for by Usmanov's art and sports foundation which also funded a Whistler exhibition in Moscow two years ago. Last year he bought the art collection of late cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Usmanov, best known in Britain for his 24% stake in Arsenal FC, said he was a trustee of the Pushkin museum. "When they asked me to support this exhibition I didn't have a choice," he said.

Tate Britain director Stephen Deuchar said it was an exciting day. "This is a project we have been debating, pursuing, arranging for quite a time now."

The Tate and the Pushkin already have strong ties, although there are no plans for a reciprocal show. Earlier this year the Royal Academy staged the successful From Russia exhibition, in which works such as Matisse's The Dance were lent by Russia's principal collections.

In total the Tate is lending 40 oil paintings and 72 works on paper for the first Turner exhibition in Moscow since 1975. It includes his masterpiece Norham Castle, Sunrise (1845); Venice scene The Dogano, San Giorgio (1842, pictured); and many people's favorite, the epic Snow Storm: Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps (1812).